City of Riddles
by LexieWayland
Summary: O.K., this is about a girl, Jessica  Jess  Gray. I took her instead of Clary, so she's kinda my personal Clary... Well, I suck at summaries, just read it!


**Hey guys!**

**LexieWayland here, and this is my first fanfiction in English. You know, I'm German and I was kinda bored, so I just decided to try writing in English. So don't be surprised when you find any mistakes. If you like to see a pic of Jess, just check out my profile, I'll post a link to one. That's all for now, here's the first chapter. Enjoy it!**

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At some point in your live comes the time when you have to decide how you'll go on, how you wanna be, either you run away like a coward and hide yourself from everything or face up to life and therefore your fears. Not our character defines who we are; our decisions define who we are and our characters.

That's what my parents have told me. But is it really that easy? I mean, what if your life changes abruptly and suddenly you're alone? What if you don't hide yourself, but others do? What if they hide who you are, _what_ you are? You know, at some point of your life, that secret begins to hunt you. When the ugly truth comes out, you can't be hidden anymore. You have to face this thing and…

Oh my gosh, I'm driveling now. Seriously, I haven't believed that shit. I mean, not our decisions define our characters; our characters define our decisions… or something like this.

To be honest: I haven't even thought once about this motto.

Yeah, in fact I just want you to think I'm a very intelligent person. O.K., maybe I am, but I'm not interested in philosophy and what I was talking about sounds very much like philosophy.

Sure, it's not nice to awake out of a dream and find yourself in bitter reality. Hey, but it's better to know the truth than live in a dream that you can awake out the next moment.

Urgh, whatever.

You want to know why the bloody hell I am thinking on those kinds of things? The explication is very simple and terrifying: these things happen to _me_. Of cause of my lying parents my life is now something between a very bad nightmare and hell.

But wait, this seems to be a bit too much to handle with, huh? Most likely you're very puzzled now and want to know what's up with me. Here's how this whole shit began…

The day started like every boring day before. I woke up, made myself up for school – I prefer the term "horror castle" and yes, school's like prison to me – and walked over there. I'm new in school; actually I'm even new in town. We just moved from Seattle to New York City. Nothing very exciting because we move almost every month, so it's very hard to make friends.

Well, maybe I would get some friends if I wasn't kind of… extraordinary. I'm like one of those girls out of an anime series. But still not an emo, I mean, I never would hang out all day with some grumpy people and think my life is terrible and take drugs or scratch myself to get over with. Not that I think emos do that… Next topic!

Back to my boring life!

After being punished in school, I finally could go home. People in my new school are worse than the ones in Seattle. My family is rich, so I have to go to a stupid elite school and things are different there.

In Seattle they just were very unfriendly and tried to avoid me. Here in New York they… Why am I talking about this, by the way? It's terrible, that's that!

Finally I made my way out of the crowd and could go home. So yeah, after some minutes I got there…

And surprise, surprise! I was looking at the pavement because I didn't want to see the looks of stupid passers. But suddenly there was a yellow barrier in front of me and I looked up. Crap, it was everywhere around _our_ house? What was up there? Why stood some policemen on the street and why did they talk to our neighbors? Where were my parents? I think that's the most important question!

I walked a little by the barrier and watched policemen run out and in the house. There was one of them standing at his car and writing something. Hastily I ran over to him and tapped on his shoulder.

"Excuse me sir, could you please tell me what's going on here?" I asked him.

Stupid jerk! He just scrutinized me and turned away. Just because I'm looking a bit different you needn't act like an ass!

"I'm Jessica Gray and I live in that house", I added annoyed and rolled my eyes.

The man nodded and told me what happened. "Miss Gray, I'm Officer Smith. I'm very sorry to tell you that someone broke into your house. We don't know what where your parents are, but we'll try to figure that out." He turned away again and started his notices over.

Slowly I shook my head and felt someone's hand on my shoulder. A bit puzzled I turned to face the one who was behind me. But it was just Mrs. Stone, one of our neighbors. She seemed to like our family because she didn't squeeze her nose when she saw me.

"Jess, I'm so sorry! I was at home when it happened… Suddenly there was a loud bang and I raced to the window, but nobody was there. So I thought it was my imagination. Then I heard a shrill scream and after a few minutes some men came out and I called the police, but it was just too late! My son, Greg, went into your house and your mom lied there… If there wasn't that red puddle and the big hole in your mom's chest, you would say she was asleep, he told me. Anyway, you must be shocked, poor little girl!" she cried and her voice cracked.

Stupid woman! I didn't need her compassion; I needed help to find my dad! Or was he dead, too?

"Mrs. Stone, would you tell me where my father is?" I asked with a tired voice. That's what I was: tired and maybe a bit frightened. Death isn't something scary to me, well someone other's death.

She grimaced and bit her lip. "Jess, he's not here. The police say he has been kidnapped."

Wow, how on earth could only one person make me feel so angry? That damn Mrs. Stone just kept jabbering and didn't seem interested in stopping it. I didn't even listen to her or tried to listen. Of course I looked like I was, but telling me how sorry she was, was unnecessary.

Unobtrusively I let my eyes wander around the scenario. You could think it was out of a crime story.

The ambulance and the men ran straight into my house. What would they find there? I didn't believe Mrs. Stone. I mean the story with Greg and that he went to look for my mom. Greg's a coward. Maybe he just made up that silly story and hoped to impress someone. For example me. I haven't mentioned that Greg's in love with me since me moved in here, have I? That was a week ago, just by the way.

But suddenly all of my hopes faded away. Some men came out with a litter and on the litter was someone's corpse. They shouted something at each other, but I didn't care. The whole paints were full of blood, though the human under it had to be dead a long time. I saw a pale hand hanging limply on one of the litter's sides.

The hand was very fine and beautiful – if you can say a hand is beautiful – and sure a female. Automatically my look wandered to the ring on one of its fingers. Clearly I could see the shiny sapphire in the middle of it. It was made out of silver. And guess what? It was my mom's ring. So the corpse under the paints had to be my mother.

"Jess, is everything alright?" I heard Mrs. Stone's voice. She was anxious, that's what I could tell because her voice shook a little bit.

That was the moment when I fell to the pavement and everything around me went black.

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**That was the first chapter. Remember: I'm not American or British, mistakes are possible and I'm very sure, there are a few.**

**Review and you'll get a free cake. xD Just tell what kind you like...**


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